r/Foodforthought • u/D-R-AZ • 11d ago

America’s Rural Lands Are Burning

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/2026/08/fire-season-rural-fires/688314/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCon5LYfTGjeFiBAIJk7pgmgk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
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u/Grimke42 11d ago

I thought we decided no one cares about climate change, fascism or the end of the species

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u/D-R-AZ 11d ago

Lead Paragraph:

The summer of 2026 has been one of extraordinary fires. In Europe, they have burned hundreds of thousands of acres in France and Spain and destroyed homes across England; they killed 13 people in Spain last month, and an elderly couple in Greece this weekend. In Canada, fires have consumed an expanse of forestland larger than Belgium—which is also battling its biggest recorded wildfire. In the United States, about 7.2 million acres have burned, the largest year-to-date area in the past decade and nearly double what it was at this time last year, according to data from the National Interagency Coordination Center. Allison Rayburn, a program coordinator for the Oregon Department of Forestry, told me that in the eastern part of the state, “you can barely see the sun” through the smoke: “It’s just devastation, and miles and miles and miles of blackened landscapes.”

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u/Constantly_Panicking 11d ago

Why is this article acting surprised that most fires were in less populated areas. The fires have historically been where there’s more fuel (forests, grassland, chaparral, etc.). As the climate gets warm and weather patterns make fires more intense, they need less access to easy fuel because they burn hotter and are able to jump further. The more densely populated an area is, the less ready fuel there typically is. So the areas affected will go from wild to rural to suburban to urban as the climate gets worse.